The Business of Living
by azngirlchibi
Summary: Amy... Rose?" Sonic almost dropped the Chaos Emeralds in horror. "Amy's the hidden name on the list? She's supposed to die instead of me?" He was shaking... "Impossible..." The shaking or Amy? He wasn't so sure any more. SonAmy
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any other related characters... Eh, I wanted this to sound lawyer-like, but I'm not very good at using big words XD This disclaimer applies to the whole fic!

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_**A/N: **_This was originally a one-shot shout out to y'all to let you guys know that I'm alive and kicking, in case you haven't visited my profile lately. Instead, it turned into a full-blown story idea, with a few ideas snatched from "Full Moon wo Sagashite" by the amazing Tanemura-sama.

Anyways, this fic hasn't really been fully thought out yet. I'm concentrating on another, more _serious _story. This is sort of my, "ARGH, DIE WRITER'S BLOCK, DIE!" fic. But I'll love it as much as I love my other fics. As such, updating will be rather spazzy, and not on a "chapter-a-month" basis.

The writing style is a whole lot more lighthearted than what I would usually write, and a whole lot more simple as well. Please forgive me if it's not the stuff you expect from me... XD I also wanted to make this more "realistic," but I just ended up giving realism the middle finger... My muses refuse realism in my life!

SonAmy forever. And ever.

**WARNING: **You will (possibly) be confused by this chapter.

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Dying was a very complicated business, as Sonic found out, much to his chagrin.

Okay, maybe that was an odd way to say it. _Being dead _was actually the complicated part. _Dying _wasn't quite so complicated in comparison.

He went through the usual stages. Bullet through the head, blood splattered all over the floor, friends surrounding him, going cold, memories running through his mind like a movie reel, seeing the white light… then nothing.

If he hadn't known any better, he could've sworn his death was scripted.

But anyway, it wasn't a bad way to die. He died young, lots of friends, many accomplishments – and if he could bring himself to admit it – dramatic, just the way he liked it.

Maybe it was the bullet, but being dead was giving him a huge headache. For one thing, you had to _think _yourself into doing things. You were overly conscious about everything you wanted to do. Like right now, for example.

He was lying on something white and fluffy. A bed, yeah, that's what they're called. And he wanted to get up, but his body – _'Uhh… 'body' in a figurative sense, I guess…' _– did not want to respond.

_'Okay… I'm stuck lying down. So how do I get up? And how do I open my eyes, for that matter?'_

"Think."

Sonic would've jumped if the invisible… whatever it was… wasn't holding him down.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it. Just think, "I want to get up.""

_'Who are you? Where am I? Heaven? Does that exist?' _So many questions bouncing around in his head… so confusing… Maybe he should just listen to the voice.

_'Umm… open, eyes, open?' _He felt like he was trying to entice a puppy…

Miraculously, his eyes snapped open.

"Whew, I was getting worried."

_'Tikal?' _he thought in surprise. Her face was hovering over his. He hadn't seen her for a long time… Not that he could blame anyone. It was pretty hard to visit dead people. He tried to open his mouth, but it stayed glued shut.

"You can hear me, right?" the orange echidna asked her, looking concerned. A bright light flashed overhead, and he had to think himself into squinting. All Tikal needed was a surgical mask and the feeling of being in some sort of freaky sci-fi movie would be complete. "Think yourself into talking."

_'Okay… this is definitely different from what I imagined…'_

"Where am I?" he managed to say. His voice sounded very echoey. He made his eyes travel around the space they were in, but he could see nothing except Tikal, her tribal skirt tickling the air.

"Technically, you're not really dead, so I can't really tell you…"

Tikal looked nervous. She was twisting a dreadlock very violently between her fingers. He was surprised she didn't rip it from her head.

"How can I be not "really" dead? I either am or I'm not." He would've tapped his foot, but he was still lying down. It took too much energy to _think _himself up, because then he would have to remember to keep talking at the same time. Sonic wasn't very good at thinking of a thousand things at once.

"I sort of killed you, and being dead myself, it doesn't really count…"

_"WHAT?" _A rush of thoughts, and he was up on his feet. _"You _killed _me?" _he asked incredulously. It was easier to control his body when he was feeling emotional. And "emotional" didn't even _being _to describe what he was feeling right now.

Tikal had the dignity to look bashful. "Chaos wanted to know why your name wasn't on the list, and he decided to send me. He was getting really worried, and you know, he's my friend and everything… Oh, and the chaos! They were… Oh, what am I saying? I'm really, really sorry, Sonic, but we really had no choice, and-"

"Whoa, whoa, please stop." Sonic shook his head rapidly. Too much… She was dumping so much on him at once. He wanted nothing more than to… to do whatever dead people were supposed to do. Be judged or whatever, because he clearly wasn't in heaven right now.

"I'm sorry, Sonic," Tikal apologized again, her bright blue eyes earnest. The wrappings around the end of her dreadlocks had fallen off, and she looked quite frazzled. "Look, why don't I explain why you're dead in the first place-"

"You killed me," he said flatly. He was still trying to wrap his mind around that. Gentle Tikal had killed _him? _He was so sure it had been an Eggman robot or something.

"Yes… look, I am merely Chaos's messenger, bound to carry out his word." Tikal sighed. "I had to kill you for a reason."

Sonic couldn't help thinking himself into crossing his arms and tapping his foot. "What reason?"

Tikal looked around a bit shiftily, increasing Sonic's paranoia. He looked around himself, but he was pretty sure it was just them two in this vast, empty space… probably perfect for running.

"Sonic, take a look at this." He was snapped back to "reality," or whatever this place was called. Tikal shoved a long piece of paper in front of his nose, and he took it hesitantly, as if it would blow his fingers off. It looked sort of… plain. An official document of some sort?

"What is it?"

"The list," Tikal answered simply.

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "A list?"

"The list of people who are going to die. Chaos and I regulate the souls that come through here, match them up to the list in case…" Tikal waved her hand helplessly. "In case… people like you show up."

Sonic took a deep breath. He was ready to believe anything by now. "People like me?" he asked.

"Yes… here." She started flipping through the long list. Sonic couldn't help wincing at the vast number. He also couldn't help peeking through to check if his friends were on it…

"See? This is your name, right here." Tikal pointed it out with a gloved finger.

It was surreal, seeing his name on it.

_Name: Sonic the Hedgehog_

_Gender: Male_

_Height: 100 cm._

_Weight: 35 kg._

_DOB: June 23, 1991_

_DOD: Unknown _

It was almost like a standard form you would fill out to at a hospital. Everything just got a little more surreal.

"What's the last one?" he asked, distracting himself from his thoughts.

"Date of death," said Tikal, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

Sonic traced it. _'Date of death…' _"Well, you know what date it is now, don't you?"

"Actually, we don't."

Sonic's forehead wrinkled in thought. "Yes, you do. Didn't you kill me?"

"Deaths caused from the dead are considered illegal. We aren't allowed to intervene in the living world." She almost sounded like a professor lecturing her class.

"So, what? Are you an escaped convict now or something?" He laughed sourly.

"As I said, I did this as an order from Chaos." Tikal frowned. "Chaos and I were confused when it said your date of death was unknown. It shouldn't be physically possible-"

"Nothing here is physically possible," Sonic pointed out dryly.

Tikal ignored him. "But since you were on the list, we had to kill you anyway. We tried to look at any ways we could avoid that, of course. We asked the higher-ups if it was a typo, but they said it wasn't. Then they told us-" she paused.

"Yes…?" he asked, encouraging her to go on. This was actually sort of interesting, in the most twisted, sick, and morbid way possible.

"We had to kill you, so you could find out whose name was originally on the list."

Sonic froze. "Wh-_What?" _he choked.

"I'm sorry this is so confusing," she almost wailed. "This has never happened before. We think it might've been someone messing around with the list and trying to get you killed or something-"

"Well, they got their wish, didn't they?" he replied darkly. Funny, her panic was actually making everything easier to take in.

Tikal stopped. "Actually, this is a special case, so Chaos managed to get a special exception for you."

Sonic stopped breathing – in a metaphorical sense. "Special… case?"

"It's a pretty simple deal, really," Tikal said, suddenly business-like. "We send you back to the living world, you find out who's the one that is actually supposed to be on the list, and we bring you back to life."

Sonic blinked. "You're… asking me to kill someone… in exchange for my life?" he asked slowly.

"No, no, it's nothing like that," she said quickly. "Technically, they're _supposed _to be dead. If you don't find whoever it is, the higher-ups will send someone down instead, and then you'll _both _end up dead."

Sonic licked his suddenly dried lips. "But it's… it's still murder! How can you ask me to kill someone for your twisted bosses?"

Tikal shrugged. Easy for her. _She _was used to this insanity. And people thought _he _was confusing. "Life and death just works this way, Sonic. You can't overstay your time being alive."

_"Overstay?" _Sonic clenched his fists, crinkling the list. "You say that like life is just some cheap motel room you rent out for the night!"

Tikal's eyes softened. "Sonic, I know it's hard for someone who… who _protects _lives to understand, but this is just how it works. I mean, Earth would be pretty crowded if no one died, right?"

Sonic managed to grimace at her joke. "I… I really don't agree with this… but I guess I don't really have much of a choice, do I?"

Tikal breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks for understanding, Sonic." She took the list gently out of his hands. He looked down at his suddenly empty hands. He might have to kill someone with these hands…

"So… how do I know who it is? Do I get a hint or something?" he asked.

"The Chaos Emeralds."

Sonic cracked a small smile. "Should've known… So I need to collect the Chaos Emeralds, right?"

Tikal nodded. "You should also know, there are rulesto being dead."

Sonic groaned. "I should've seen that coming."

Tikal smiled sheepishly. "Sorry Sonic. Don't worry; they're not hard to keep." She flipped to the last page of the list, and with a loud _rip, _pulled it free of the staple.

Sonic gave it a read.

_There are only three rules that the dead must follow:_

_1. You may let others know that you are dead, but you are not allowed to tell them of your experiences in the land of the dead._

_2. You may not kill anyone on purpose, unless otherwise stated._

_3. Mind your own business._

Sonic flipped the piece of paper over, as if more writing would suddenly magic itself out of nowhere. He had a hunch that he wouldn't have been surprised. "Is that it?"

"Yes." Tikal nodded rapidly. "Good luck, Sonic."

"Good luck? Hey, wait!"

But Tikal was already disappearing, smiling and waving at him.

Something seemed to suck all the air out of him. He was bathed in gold… than black… than red. The list fell silently away from his hands without his noticing. The air was suddenly rushed back at him, and he choked. It was like drinking water too fast, much too fast. He writhed, twisted…

Something jolted. He opened his eyes with a gasp.

Someone shrieked. Before he could open his mouth, something hit him over the head.

He didn't die this time, but _damn, _it hurt…

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_**A/N:**_ So that's it! I hope you enjoyed that. Please review, leave me your thoughts/praise/criticisms/flames/all of the above.

Information on Sonic the Hedgehog courtesy of Concept: Mobius website. Find the website for all your Sonic needs on my profile!


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: **_Twenty reviews.

Twenty, effing reviews.

This was extremely unexpected, at least on my part. I was... Ugh, I need a larger vocabulary. I was pretty much, "Wow." My expression was like, complete shock. I mean... man, I feel pretty bad that this is my, "DIE WRITERS BLOCK!" fic, and yet it was received so _warmly. _You guys are the _shit. _That's all I can say. You guys are the freaking _shit. _I love you all so much!

So, as a gift to you all (and m' b-day is comin' up soon too) I decided, "Hey, what the heck, I'll update this!" As you can probably tell by the scrolling bar located to your right, it's a whole lot longer than the last chapter, so I'm definitely _not _going to expect the crazy wave of reviews for the first chapter. Still though, if you were only planning to review for the first chapter and adopt "lurker" status for the rest, you are still the _shit. _I know I keep on saying that, but... _DAMN. _

Right, I'll shut up now and let you go on and read this chapter :)

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There it went, making fun of her again.

_Beeeeee-_

She glared at it, her hammer raised threateningly. "So you think this is _funny_?" she hissed at it.

_-eeeeee-_

The hammer shook in her hand. Her breath tasted dry and hot. "Are you _lying_ to me?" she asked.

_-eeeeee-_

She growled. Inhaling deeply through her flared nostrils, she forced herself to calm down. "You're broken right?" she tried again. She worked hard to keep the trembling out of her voice. "I can do sensible. If you're broken, I'll try to fix you."

_-eeeeee-_

Laughing… it was _still _laughing at her.

She considered unplugging it, and instantly shied from the thought. That would make it… final. Too final.

She didn't think she could handle facing reality at the moment.

So maybe she should think back to the dream. The wonderful, terrifying, impossible dream she had five seconds ago.

She closed her eyes, let her mind drift. He had gotten up, his emerald eyes wide with shock. He had breathed, she was fairly sure. She vaguely remembered hitting him over the head with her hammer. But it couldn't have happened. It just couldn't have.

It was wonderful because he was alive.

It was terrifying because the dead did not live again.

It was impossible… because she had not been happy.

Was it… shock? No, she was certain that it had not been. Her heart had dropped like a rock to the pit of her stomach when he had lurched up to a half-sitting position. In her dream, that is. It only served to solidify the suspicion she had felt, ever since the moment he had died in front of them all.

'_I… I don't…'_

She couldn't finish it. Her entire body was physically repelled by her line of thinking.

'_But that's okay.' _She closed her eyes, attempting to block out the high-pitched whine of the heart monitor. _'He's dead. It was all a dream. I don't have to think.'_

Wasn't the laughing proof enough of that? She breathed in again, the smell of hospital invading her nose. She opened her eyes, the whiteness of the walls around her numbing her senses. The heart monitor – a long, flat line – screamed out at her.

_'SONIC THE HEDGEHOG IS DEAD. YOU LOSE, AMY ROSE. HEEEEE…'_

Amy shook. _'Dead. Right. Dead, as in, gone.' _

She sunk into the hard, plastic visitor's chair. It had been pulled up right beside his bod- She winced – His unconscious form, but she had dragged it away as far from him as possible in the tiny room. It had scraped loudly against the white, tiled floor. Loud enough to wake him up if he was still… still not dead.

_'Why… why… why…' _She had asked herself until her tears were dry. Sure, everyone _else _was completely fine – well, not _fine, _per say, but they had accepted his death. Even Tails had seemed to find something to spark a light of understanding in his eyes that was enough to hide his sorrow. But she… she _couldn't. _It was like someone had ripped a veil away from her eyes when he had died. A shock that had woken her up, told her that the past years of her life had been one big dream.

Her fist shook on her lap. "If that was a dream…" She stood up, the chair noisily falling over. She didn't give it a thought. "If that was a dream, than screw reality!"

"Ugh… geez, Amy, I don't think I remember telling you to give me a wake-up call."

She froze. With a rusted, mechanical slowness, she turned her head around towards the source of the noise.

Sonic groaned, rubbing the back of his skull. _'Oh, damn, my head,' _he thought painfully, the lump tender under his palm as he slowly sat up. He absentmindedly registered that he was in a hospital – the smell gave it away easily – with an IV and way too many wires attached to his body. Amy was there too, with a look that he had only ever seen on Eggman when he thwarted yet another one of his "genius" plans.

He blinked at her. "Uhh… yo?"

Amy made a strangled sound in the back of her throat. "Yo?" she mouthed silently, staring at him. It took most of her sanity not to hyperventilate, her hand clutching her chest.

Sonic felt a twinge of annoyance. _'What's she staring at?' _ He looked down at his body. _'… Nope, I'm still fine.' _Felt his face. _'Two eyes, teeth still there… head still whole…' _

He looked up, and saw that Amy's gaze had shifted elsewhere.

Heart monitor. Flat line.

_'Oh.'_

Then, she stalked towards him, hammer raised high.

"Wait, what? Amy, don't hit me! Oh c'mo- _NO, _Amy! Hear me out!" he pleaded.

To his surprised, the pink hedgehog stopped. She gritted her teeth, feeling her jaw protest from the pressure. "Thirty seconds," she managed to force out.

Sonic waved his hands defensively. "I need more time than that!" he objected.

Amy pried her jaws open, commanding her tongue to move and form words with her mouth. "Sonic, I'm about to go insane. In fact, you're lucky that I didn't throw you out the window the _first _time. I saw you _die. _We _all _saw you die." There was a hysterical edge entering her voice. "The flat line says it all! You shouldn't be alive! You should definitely be dead! What's _happening? _This is impossible! This… this…" Her mouth ran on into a babble that Sonic couldn't understand or keep up with any more. But some of her words did surprise him.

It wasn't until she had said, "flat line" that it had really sunk in: His heart wasn't beating. At all. He hesitantly touched the part of his chest where his heart was lodged. It didn't… _feel _empty. Actually… He frowned. The little ball of muscle felt like it was taking up too much room.

_'Okay, freaky,' _he thought to himself, feeling slightly disturbed. How did that _work? _The whole oxygen thing, and the blood thing… Did he even _bleed _any more? If his heart stopped beating, how come he still felt the need to breathe? _'This is way too confusing…' _

The babble of noise had stemmed to a stop. Sonic looked up, glancing at the faraway look in Amy's eyes, the angry set of her mouth. Her hammer was gone, much to his relief, which made him feel slightly braver.

"Got rid of all that extra estrogen yet?" he teased, trying to lighten up the mood.

She looked livid. Not the reaction he was aiming for. "Don't blame this on PMS," she spat.

He held up his hands, defensive again. "Look, I…" he swallowed. The suddenly awkward atmosphere made it harder to think. "I'm not really sure how this works myself…"

"You're not alive," Amy said, flatly.

Sonic started from surprise. He hadn't expected Amy of all people to say it so calmly. He honestly had the impression that she would take it the hardest, and be one of the first to readily accept him again. "Uh, well, not _technically_."

"Technically." Her flat voice turned incredulous. _"Technically?" _she asked, her voice jumping up several octaves. Sonic cringed.

"It's just… I…" He struggled for the words that wouldn't come. Now that he was alive again – flesh and blood alive, for the most part – he was having a very hard time going with the flow like he usually would.

It was just so… _distracting! _After the dreamy, surreal quality of wherever the hell he was a while ago, everything here was too bright, too vivid. His bed was too soft, yet he could feel the hard, steel skeleton underneath imprinting itself down his legs. His gloves, his shoes – they hadn't taken them off – were too warm. He could see every single dot on the coffered ceiling with blinding clarity, and he was having trouble focusing his eyes as tiny dust motes danced across them, shadowed sharply in the light. And the _smell – _he wrinkled his nose. He hadn't thought about it that much before, but it was overpowering him. Chemicals, blood, medicines, sedatives… He could almost _taste _the paint of the tiny room.

"I…?" Sonic snapped back to Amy, realizing that he had let his mind wander. Amy, with the same red dress, pink fur in disarray, green eyes flashing with anger. The squeak of her boots made his ears flick in their direction. "What are you talking about?" she asked, impatience marring her tone.

"I can't really say much," he admitted, focusing on getting through his conversation. "There's… rules."

"Rules," she stated. She raised an eyebrow. "And they are…?"

"I'm not allowed to talk about what happened," he worded as carefully as he could. Strange that he would be telling Amy Rose of all people!

"So you're not allowed to tell me what happened after that ball of light rammed through your skull?" she asked disbelievingly.

"… Ball of light?" he asked, confused. Then, it hit him. _'Tikal. Rammed through my skull?' _He shuddered involuntarily. _'So much for the bullet to the head theory.'_

Amy shook her head slowly, skepticism still written all over her face. "I… I can't believe…" she whispered, "this is not happening…"

"You think _you're _confused?" he asked dryly. "How do you think _I _feel?"

"I think I'd have a better sense if you told me what happened," she said. "I think I might be able to _believe _you if you told me what happened."

"I… can't break the rules." Sonic bit his lip. "It's almost like I gave them my word. I mean, you know I don't follow rules, but I still keep my word," he added solemnly.

"There's breaking the rules, then there's breaking the laws of reality," Amy commented.

She stared at him for a long time when he didn't reply.

"Used to it yet?" he asked, chuckling wryly and breaking the silence.

"Used to what?" Amy asked.

"Me. Alive. Sunk in yet?"

Amy rubbed her temples. Maybe she could sandpaper her insane dream away, but when she looked up, he was still there with a half-smirk on his face. "I keep on thinking that I'm going to wake up from a huge dream right now. I don't know how much longer I can look at this calmly and sanely," she whispered.

Sonic shrugged. "Hey, I'm alive, so s'all good, right?" he asked flippantly.

Amy took in a sharp breath. Sonic cocked his head in confusion at the sound. "Hey, I'm not that bad of a guy, am I?" he asked jokingly.

More silence. It was getting awkward again.

"Amy?" he asked, confused again.

She didn't answer him.

Suddenly, Sonic froze. A curiously familiar smell wafted itself to his nose. Water? Salt? The ocean? No, it smelled too warm for that… His eyes widened in horror. _'Tears?'_

"Amy, are you _crying_?" he asked, appalled.

"No," Amy squeaked. Her voice broke.

"You _are _crying," Sonic said, terror bubbling up his throat. "Oh geez, what did I say?" He frantically flipped through the past few minutes of conversation, but came up empty-handed. "Hey, it's alright, I'm not gonna fall down dead again," he said, panicking. "I'm one hundred percent alive."

"I _know _you're alive!" Amy suddenly burst out. Sonic shrank back into his mattress. "It's impossible, but you're _alive. _What… what does that _mean? _Do you get to stay here, or…? Or do you have to leave soon? Or…" Amy let her thoughts run around in circles. _Anything _to avoid that one thought that had entered her mind when Sonic had... "woken up" again.

Sonic went silent. "I… Actually, there _is _something I have to do," he murmured. Half of him hoped that Amy didn't hear that.

"There… there is?" Amy asked. She sniffled a little, ashamed that she had suddenly burst into tears like that. But it was like she had completely given up on the "strong" image that she had tried to be before he had died.

"Yeah, there is," Sonic said, relieved that her tears were stopping. "I need to… leave and get stuff."

Amy's eyes widened. "Leave?"

Sonic was talking to himself more than he was to Amy now. "Yeah… gotta fix that list… I still _don't _agree with the whole, "replace yourself with someone else" thing, but what's a guy gonna do? I guess it _would _be a waste for both of us to die," he admitted reluctantly, making a face as if the words had been sour in his mouth. "This is _exactly _the sort of moral conflict thing I wanted to avoid," he half-griped.

Amy's mouth had dropped to a silent, "O."

"I guess I should get going. Don't wanna attract attention and all that," he said thoughtfully. He attempted to get off the bed, and shuddered when he felt the pull of an IV against his arm. "Ugh… Hey, Amy, think you can help me out here?"

Amy found her voice. "Where are you going?" she asked.

"Huh? Oh." He waved his hand airily, trying to brush off the subject. "It's… nothing. Don't worry about it. I'll be back faster than you can call my name." He smirked.

Amy shook her head. "I'm coming with you."

Sonic froze. "… What?" he asked slowly. It was suddenly taking his brain a long time to connect with his mouth.

Amy put her hand on her hips. A defiant stance. "I'm coming with you," she enunciated clearly.

"No you're not," Sonic said, just as defiantly.

Amy huffed, crossing her arms. "If you try to leave, I'll just follow you."

Sonic growled. He had no doubts that she would _try. _Try, and then give up. At least, that was what he was counting on.

But… he looked at her eyes, huge and staring. Would she give up? Or would she wander around for hours, until she tripped over a tree root and broke her leg or something? Would she keep searching until she was so tired that she didn't see the headlights of an incoming car? Would she keep searching until Eggman snatched her up?

Sonic shook his head in annoyance. _'Of course not, she's not _that _thickheaded,' _he thought. _'Right?'_

Sonic sighed. _'But just in case…' _

"I… where I go might be dangerous. I wouldn't want you to get hurt." A half-truth. It was more like, _'I don't want you to get in the way.' _Amy was… not much of a fighter to say the least, to the point where she was a bit of a nuisance. He wasn't sure what to expect, but having to coddle her every step of the way was _not _something he needed, or wanted, to do.

Amy chewed her lip, digesting his statement. He was quite confident that those words would make her step down. He was surprised that she had not screamed with joy and attempted to glomp him to oblivion yet. Any sign of "affection" he gave her, even on a completely platonic scale, usually made her jump out of her skin with happiness.

Okay, so it might not've been fair for him to use an advantage like this, but at least it would-

"No."

It took him a moment to process that.

"What do you mean "no?!"" he asked in shock.

"I'm coming with you," she commentated plainly. "And that's final."

"No, that's definitely _not _final," he protested.

"I'm… I'm glad that you don't want me to get hurt." Sonic felt a bit of guilt at the way she said those words so sincerely. "But the truth is… I…" She trailed off.

Sonic waited, but she didn't continue.

"You…?" he urged.

She mumbled something under her breath.

Sonic crossed his arms, his leg bouncing up and down impatiently. "Come on, spit it out."

He received a glare from Amy, but nothing else.

Sonic rolled his eyes, exasperated. "Come on, aren't good c-couples," he choked on the word, "supposed to keep up the communication?"

That set her off.

Set her off crying that is, much to Sonic's fright.

"Oh, come on! Not this again!" Sonic fidgeted uncomfortably as Amy tried desperately to control herself. "It's not… I… You… I mean, come with me if you want, just please stop crying!" he begged.

"You don't want me to come with you," she pointed out thickly, smearing tears across her face with her arm.

Sonic couldn't argue with that point. "You can do… some helpful things…" It sounded more like a question.

Amy shook her head. "No, if you don't want me to come, I won't."

Sonic couldn't help tilting his head, curiosity suddenly stirred. "Why do you want to come with me so badly, anyway?" he asked. "Usually, you would… well, you would do anything for me," he admitted, embarrassed. "I think this is the first time you said "no" to anything I asked. Wow, I should've recorded that, shouldn't've I?"

Amy finally managed a watery grin. Sonic visibly relaxed. "It's… it's all me, really," she admitted. "When you died, I sort of discovered that…" She took a deep breath. Here it came, the thought she couldn't face. In a way, it was a relief to get it out of her system. "I don't… love you."

Ringing silence. Ringing, in a way that there was still the heart monitor shrieking in the background. Also ringing in a way that her words seemed to have shocked the very air itself.

Sonic's mouth was dry. Why was he so surprised? Hadn't he always thought of her as a fan girl?

Amy continued. She felt a twang of pain somewhere in the region of her chest when Sonic stayed silent. "I've been chasing you since… Oh, I don't even remember any more. And to find out that I've been chasing you for so long, for no reason at all… That the "love" I felt was just a stupid dream…" she laughed darkly. "It changed… a lot of things. I'm… not so sure about myself any more. I mean, when you _died,_" Unexpectedly, they both flinched at the word, "When you _died, _I… I felt sad, sure. But it also felt like… a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Is that sadistic or what?" she half-joked.

"And… and now that I'm back?" Sonic whispered.

Amy didn't answer for a moment. Instead, she just walked closer to him, and for the first time, Sonic didn't feel like running away. Her shoes squeaked across the floor to him, closer and closer…

Her shoulder touched his forehead. He could feel the rhythmic raise and fall of her shoulder as she breathed, in time with the way his hot breath fogged down her arm. The vividness that affected him made him see Amy much more clearly than he had before too – but maybe it was because he didn't run away this time. He didn't dare look up – didn't want to seem Amy's face – so he concentrated on each line of fur on her shoulders, the way each one curved delicately down to taper itself to her skin.

She wrapped her arms around his head, surprisingly gentle. Still, he didn't move.

"I should be happy right now," she said, her voice muffled slightly by his quills. "But I… I don't feel _anything_ holding you; even though I should… my heart should be beating faster than you can run right now."

Sonic listened. _'Thump, thump, thump…' _Her heart sounded quite steady to him.

Hot tears were running down the side of his face, and he felt a flutter of panic. This time, though, he managed to stifle it quietly.

Instead, he pulled her away, as carefully as he could. He held a finger under her eyes; let tears soak themselves into his gloves. "Anything now?" he asked, trying to sound teasing and airy.

Amy shook her head. She took a step back, tearing herself away from his fingers. Her green eyes, flecked with bits of shadowy black blinked up at him. "Nothing," she murmured. "I just… want to find out… If I… If we… That is, if I'm with you, I might find out…"

He let his hands drop to his lap. "Amy…" He closed his eyes. He really couldn't believe he was about to say this. "You can come if you want."

Amy shook her head. "It's okay…"

"No, really, if you want to come…"

"No, I said it was okay," she snapped. Sonic permitted himself a brief grin. She sounded better already. "Nothing's holding you back. I already got the IV out."

Sonic whipped his head down. The IV really was gone.

"Did you-"

Amy smiled slyly. "It's good to know that I can distract you a little."

Sonic rolled his eyes. That was when he noticed the bag connected to the IV. Empty. "What the… How long have I been out?"

"A week," Amy admitted, looking ashamed. "No one wanted to… you know… unplug you. So if you unplug yourself now, no one's going to notice… They'll probably think that I finally decided it was the time."

"Oh," he said quietly. He felt a sense of relief. It was kind of nice to know that you were missed that much. "If you really don't want to come…" he said, a bit hesitant as he got rid of the wires. He wasn't sure if their conversation changed anything.

"Oh, just mind your own business," she muttered.

Sonic froze.

_3. Mind your own business_

"Okay then, I'm leaving." He strolled to the window, pulling it open. A breeze immediately danced inside, getting rid of the smells in an instant. Sonic smiled. It was good to be able to feel this again.

He looked down at the ground. It looked like he was about five floors up – an easy jump for him. He dropped casually, absorbing the impact with his whole body. He grinned. This felt completely right at least, compared to the crazy, loopy scene that had just unfolded.

"Hey, wait!"

Sonic's head snapped up. He moved out of the way just in time as Amy fell beside him, losing her balance and landing very ungracefully on her bottom.

"You decided to accept my invitation?" he whispered sarcastically, in case anyone was nearby. A part of him felt a bit of despair. He had anticipated doing this on his own, and he had actually been relieved when she changed her mind about coming with him – though he tried to be polite about it.

Amy got up, brushing herself off. "Mind your own business," she said yet again.

Sonic groaned mentally. _'This can't end well.'_

* * *

_**A/N: **_And so, Amy's adventure to find herself, and Sonic's adventure for his life begins. What will happen? WHO KNOWS?! DUM DUM DUM!

Uhh... yeah, so that's it. It's a bit boring, I have to admit... Not much of a gift, but I needed something to kick start this story. I actually had to work really hard to shorten this chapter, because there was so much I wanted to add... Explanations, for one, but also action, and _fluff. _I am absolutely _starving _for a SonAmy epic right now, so any sort of recommendations would make me uber happy. No offense to the wonderful authors who _don't _write SonAmy, of course... I just have this insane craving for SonAmy right now.

More news: Cold Compassion is still in the works. School is an absolute _killer. _I guess I can see why people didn't want to take the "U" courses... Honestly, math is going to BURY me. If I see one more question along the lines of, "Solve (x/2) to the exponent 3," I'm going to go crazy! English... just bores me to death. I actually had to write a two hundred word descriptive paragraph describing a snowflake. A _snowflake. _I was out of steam at one hundred and twenty words! Honestly, how long can you describe a _snowflake _for? Then we had to have a _narrative_ and _expository _version of our first paragraph, and it was snowflake, snowflake, snowflake all the way. If it snows tommorow, I will scream.

... Sorry, I really needed to get that out of my system. If you actually read all that, thank you for taking your time to listen to the pathetic story of my life. Really.

Also, to anyone who's interested to the answer of that math problem... it's x to the exponent three/8. Just... FYI.

Once again, thank you SO MUCH for the warm reception for this story. Whenever I get stressed out, I take a look at the reviews... They always put a big smile on my face. Of course, people ask why I look like I just got hit by puppy love, but I love you guys too much to care about what they think anyway :)

**Anonymous Reviews:**

**mew lozzierocks: **Looking for the next chapter? THAN LOOK NO FURTHER! (Points up). If you have sucessfully read that all, than you have just read approximately 3892 words. CONGRATS!

_azngirlchibi_


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